It's not exactly a drink you can toast, but it's certainly a great find: a team of archaeologists have officially found… The oldest wine in the worldInside a tomb carved into the rock in Spain. The way in which this Guinness wine was found is truly strange, because even the grave in which it was hidden was unknown: there was no doubt that it was there.

Returning to the wine, its discovery has officially undermined the record found in 1867 in Speyer (Germany), and not only that: it has also made it less reliable, because while Speyer was found inside a bottle it was never opened and is therefore only assumed to be wine The Spanish mixture was found inside a jar and all tests were carried out immediately Analyzes that led to confirmation.

Discover Carmona

Of course, the analyzes were not immediate. The jar, in fact, was Found in 2019. At that time the family of CarmonaAn Andalusian municipality in the province of Seville decided to carry out structural work on the house in which he had lived for a very long time. The works have gone so deep that they have reached a kind of… Flooded mysterious room.

After noticing the structure, which had clearly been modified and shaped by man, the homeowners immediately realized they had made an archaeological discovery and contacted the superintendent. From there, a series of excavations entrusted by archaeologists, historians and experts from the region beganUniversity of Cordoba. Scientists immediately confirmed that it was a very ancient tomb, and after a very short time they found a series of objects and furnishings, including an urn.

Opening the jar

As someone explains in detail A study published in the journal Science DirectOnce the finds were brought to the laboratory, the team of archaeologists (composed of Daniel Cusano, Dolores Esquivel, Fernando Lafunt, and José Rafael Ruiz Arribola and led by Prof. Juan Manuel Roman) He worked to open the urn, thinking he would find human ashes. Instead, there was a surprise: the container contained… Reddish brown liquid Seemingly dense and full-bodied.

The smell indicates that it is alcoholic, but further investigations are needed to find out more: «We looked for biomarkers – said the organic chemist Jose Rafael Ruiz Arribola – They are chemical compounds that unambiguously say what a particular substance is and we have it Seven wine polyphenols found. “We compared these polyphenols with those found in wines from this part of Andalusia: they matched.”

But that's not all, because through investigation scientists also discovered that this brown liquid was originally only white wine: this was shown by the absence of syringic acid, which is formed when the main pigment of red wine decomposes.

Why can't you taste it?

This may seem like a silly question, but many people wonder why wine doesn't “taste.” The answer is less clear than it seems, as scientists involved in the study revealed Watchman“If you think he's old or poisonous, no. It is not toxic“We have done microbiological analyzes – said chief archaeologist Juan Manuel Roman – but I have some concerns about that.

How is that? “Because this wine has been aged for 2,000 years Contact with the cremated body of a dead Roman. The liquid is slightly cloudy due to bone residue. “I guess you could strain it and taste it but…I'd rather have someone else do it.”